Wringer



Sept. 17, 1946. D K, FERRlsv 2,407,922

WRINGER Filed May 28, 1943 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 BY I wwwi p 6. D. K. FERRIS2,407,922

' IRINGRR Filed lay 2a, 1943 4 Shasta-Sheet 3' Patented Sept. 17, 1946WRINGER Donald K. Ferris, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General MotorsCorporation, Dayton, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application May 28,1943, Serial No. 488,840

This invention relates to power driven clothes wringers.

In order to make power driven clothes wringers more safe, there has beendevised the so- Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing a modificav Claims.(Cl. 68-4549) 2 tion of the floating bearing as it would appear in Fig.2;

Fig. 4 i another sectional view showing another modification of thefloating bearing as it called instinctive type of wringer in which a 5would appear in Fig. 2;

tug on the clothes or any substantial movement 'Fig. 5 isa sectionalView taken along the line of the body of the wringer will release thepres- 5 5='of Fig. 1; sure on the rolls. Despite the safety value ofFig. 6 is a sectional View taken along the line this instinctivefeature, few Wringers have been t6 of Fig. 1;

made incorporating it principally because of the Fig. 7 is adiagrammatic view showing a means complicated and expensive constructionemfor releasing the pressure upon the rolls by inployed. stinctivemovement of the wringer;

It is an object of my invention to provide a Fig. 8 is a sectional viewalong the line 8-8 simple inexpensive clothes wringer of the instincofFig. 7; and tive type. Fig. 9 is a sectional view along the lines 9- 9It is another object of my invention to provide of Fig. 1. aninstinctive type of W r which W ll diS- Referring now to the drawingsand more parconnect the power from the rolls and/or release ticularly toFig. 1, there is shown the usual the pressure on the rolls upon apredetermined supporting post containing a power driven ma imum Wri gerl adtubular drive shaft 22. The supporting post It is another object ofmy en o to mp oy 29 is provided with a flange 2| containing rethe latchpin of the swing lock meehanism as cesses 27, for receiving the lowerend of the a pivot for the instinctive movement of the swing locklatching pin 23. The swing lock w e latching pin 23 is supported by anear 30 and a It is still another Obje 0 m invention to 25 boss 32projecting from one side of thetubu- Provide a Wringer in Which t P w iss onlar floating bearing housing extension 34 of the neeted from thePressure se upo gear case 36'. The upper end of the drive shaft therolls W there is a predetermined Orq e Z2 is provided with a pair ofslots which receive a ppl e by t e d ving mechanism. transverse pin 38provided in the lower end of These o ts a ta n d by pr vidi g a fioatthegear shaft to. This gear shaft 40 is rotating h ring between the wringerframe and the ably mounted in bearing in the top and bottom wringer postto permit limited rotation of the of the gear case 36 and rotatablymounted on entire W about the latch D 0 t Sw ng the shaft 40 are thebevel gears 42 and 44 which look mechanism. The relative movement bemeshwith the crown bevel gear 46. This crown tween t W frame d t W g l postbevel gear 46 is connected by the coupling 48 is p y to nn ct the powerfrom the with the drive shaft 50 of the lower roll of the rolls and/oroperate the wringer pressure release wringer. The gear case 35 isprovided with propreferably upon a greater amount of relative jections52 which connect to the roll frame 54 movement. This relative movementmay be which includes the side stiles and the connectcaused by anunusual amount of torque being ing frame members (see Fig. 7). appliedto the wringer by the power drive or by Each of the bevel gears 42 and44 is provided tugging the clothes or pushing the wringer. ith a woundspring clutch for connecting either F r her o j s nd advan of th pr n tothe gear shaft 40. These clutches are identiinvention will be apparent fthe following cal with theexception that their clutch springs p i n,reference b i h d o h omare wound in op osite directions. For example,De yi i -Win s, wherein a preferred form a d the wound spring 56 islocated between the sleeve o h r forms of the p n nve ti n are clearlyfixed to the gear 42 and the double-ended sleeve shown. i 58 fixed bythe pin 66 to the gear shaft 40. The

In the drawings: wound spring 56 is provided with blunt ends, the

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view through the lower endresting'again'st a projection (it! .upon wringer head and upper portionof the post of the gear lwhile the upper end may be engaged a'wringerembodying one form of my invention; by the sliding key 62 carried by ashifting collar Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken along the line 64whichsurrounds the double ended sleeve 58.

22 of Fig. 1; The shifting collar 64 is raised or lowered by aneccentrically located pin 58 which is received within the annular grooveprovided upon the shifting collar. The eccentrically located pin 68 issupported by and extends from the face of a cam member "ill to which isconnected a shaft l2 provided with a handle 74 on the outside of thewringer casing it. The cam member is provided with vertical cam arms 92and S4 and horizontal cam projections ll which are vertical andhorizontal respectively when the handle I4 is in the neutral positionand which turn clockwise or counterclockwise as a unit with cam membe'10 for forward or reverse wringer driving. A spring pressed pin extendstransversely through the member 1i! and a portion registers with notchesprovided in the bearing surface for resiliently latching the cam memberit in forward reverse and neutral positions.

The movement of the handle 14 in either direction from that shown inFig. 1 raises or lowers the shifting collar 54 to raise or lower thesliding key 62. When the sliding key 62 is raised it will engage one endof the upper wound spring clutch to connect the gear shaft 43 with thebevel gear 44- to turn the crown gear 45 and the lower roll shaft 59 inone direction. If the handle 14 is moved in the opposite direction theshiftingcollar 64 and the sliding key 62 will be lowered to cause it toengage one end of the wound spring clutch 56 to force the spring intogripping engagement with the double-ended sleeve 58 to connect the gear'42 through its projection 60, the wound spring 56, the sliding key .62,the doubleended sleeve 58 and the pin 66 to the gear shaft 40.

In order to provide the instinctive feature in a simple way, I pivot theentire wringer upon the .latch pin 28 of the swing lock mechanism andprovide a floating bearing between the floating bearing housing 34 andthe upper portion of the wringer post 20 which it surrounds. The latchpin 28 is provided with a compression type coil spring 18concentric'with' it, extending between the ear Biland a shoulder 88 uponthe latch pin. The lower end of the latch pin 28 is conically pointed sothat it may readily enter the latching recesses 2.! provided in theflange 21 upon the wringer post 28. To move the wringer to anotherangular position, the latch pin 23 may be raised against the force ofthe spring 18 by the swing look lever 82 which is pinned by the pin 84to the latch pin 28. This swing lock lever 82 is pivoted upon the pintsto the side of the bearing housing 34. A knob 88 projecting through anopening in the casing 16 may be used for operating the forked swing locklever 82 to raise the swing lock latch pin 28.

The floating bearing support between the housing 34 and the upperportion of the post 20 is provided by a soft rubber member 90 providedbetween their adjacent walls. This rubber member 90 is preferablyfastened to the walls of the portion 34, but is not fastened to the post20, so that it may rotate upon the outer walls of the post 20 when it isdesired to swing the wringer to another angular position provided by anyof the latching recesses 21. As is better shown in Fig. 2, the :portion3415 made substantially square in cross-section so as to increase itsability to hold the rubber member 96. -By this arrangement when theswing lock latch pin 28 is in position as shown in Fig. 1 the entirewringer will pivot upon this latch pin, but this pivoting will beresisted by the compression of the portion of the rubber member 90 uponone side of the post The rubber member 90 resists the normal torquereaction due to the torque applied by the drive shaft 22 to the gearingand the rolls as well as the movement which may be caused by feedingclothes into the wringer.

In order to cause such a movement of the 'en-,

tire wringer to move the shifting collar 64 to its middle or offposition, ometimes called the neutral position, the cam member 7Qisprovided with the vertical cam arms or projections 92 and 9A as shownin Fig. 5, which in their angular po- .sitions may be engaged by theprojections 96 and QBprovided. upon opposite sides of an aperture in thetop portion of a vertical strap member Hll. This strap member l fll isprovided with a bottom portion extending at right angles to its verticalupper portion. This right angle portion 'surrounds and forms a bearingupon the upper portion of the post 20 and is located between the flange2| and the bottom of the floating hearing housing extension 34 of thegear case. It is pivotally connected with the boss 32'by a sleeve I93which forms a pivotal connection between the two, which might otherwisebe formed by the latch pin 28. The lower portion of the vertical strapmember It does not surround therubber member 96 but fits as a bearingmember directly against the upper portion of the post 20 and rotatesuponthe post 29 with the wringer when the latch pin 28 is withdrawn from theflange 2|.

However, when the latch pin 28 engages ene'of I pin 58, the shiftingcollar 54, and the sliding key 62, from one of its driving positionsinto the neutral or .off position in which both of the bevel gears 42and 44 are declutched from the gear shaft-40.

To prevent the release of the swing lock mechanism when one of theclutches is engaged, there is provided a vertical link it! looselyconnected at its lower end to the swing lock lever '82 and provided witha vertical slot H3 at its upper end which is received within a groove inthe cam member T0. The upper end of this link -l H is bent 180 and isprovided with a pair of humps H5 which, when the swing lock lever 82 ismoved to release'the latch pin 28, will engage the horizontallyextending cam projections H1 when in inclined position, as shown by thedot and dash lines in Fig. 6, and move them to the horizontal positionshown in full lines in Fig. 6, to move the handle 14 and the shiftingcollar'64 from one of the driving positions to the neutral, ordeclutched position in which the gear shaft -40 is disconnected from thebevel gears 42 and 44.

In Fig. 3 the portion I34 corresponding to the portion 34 in Figs. land2,-is made oval in shape rather than square shape and the rubber memberI90 corresponding to the rubber member 99 in Figs. 1 and 2 fills in thespace between :the housing I34 and the top of the post; "This formprovides a more even distribution of the compres- Jsion of the rubber.In Fig. 4 the rubber is rejusting screws 292 preferably of the Allenhead type by which the tension of the springs 290 may beso adjusted toregulate the exact force required to be applied to the wringer inpivoting it about the latch pin in order to cause it to engage theprojections upon the vertical strap member I ill to move the controlmechanism from one of the driving positions to the neutral or stoppingposition. The setting of the Allen adjusting screws 292 determines thetorque required of the drive shaft 22 about the latch pin 228 to movethe wringer to the stopping position. The Allen screws 292 may beadjusted to set the springs 299 to different tensions so as tocompensate for the torque action of the drive shaft 22. This is possiblebecause the torque action of the drive shaft 22 does not change indirection with the reversing of the wringer control. By this arrangementit is possible to make the force to push or pull the wringer frame,which is required in order to move the normal control means to theneutral position, substantially the same regardless,of the direction ofthe operation. In the form shown in Fig. 4 it is essential that theinterior walls of the portion 234 provide a floating bearing for theupper end of the post 20 by engaging the left and right sides of thepost 20 as shown in Fig. 4. These interior wall surfaces designated bythe reference characters 235 and 231 preferably have that portion oftheir surfaces which is in engagement with the post 20 during movementof the wringer about the swing lock latch pin 228 in the form of an arehaving its center concentric with the swing lock latch pin 228.

This same instinctive mechanism may also be used to release the pressureupon the rolls as is shown in the form illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8. Forthis purpose, without any other change, the vertical strap member Isl,designated in Figs. '7 and 8 as 301, is projected upwardly and providedat its upper end with a roller 382. When the entire wringer is in itsnormal position, this roller rides upon a flange 304 at the bottom of astrap member 3% fastenedto and extending down from the top of the topsection 308 of the casing it. The top section 398 supports the pressurespring am which applies the pressure to the upper bearing blocks 352which receives the shaft ends of the upper roll 3M. The opposite end ofthe upper section 308 is pivotally connected to an end section 318 whichis connected by an overcenter toggle link connection 3E8 with a portionof the wringer frame 54. Thus the over-center toggle link mechanism (8holds the one end of the top section 363 in operating position while theroller 302 by its engagement with the flange 3M holds the other end inposition against the tension of the pressure spring 3 I ll.

Should the entire wringer be moved a sufiicient amount about the indexlatch pin as a pivot, the roller 302 being mounted upon the strap member35!, which in turn is latched to the post, will not move with thewringer body. The flange 384, however, will move with the wringer bodyand will move relatively to the roller 302. When the wringer body ismoved sufiiciently the roller will reach the end of the flange 334 andwill release the flange and in so doing will release that end of the topsection 398 allowing it to move upwardly to release the tension of thepressure spring 3! thereby releasing the pressure upon the rolls. Achain 309 loosely connects the top section 308 with the casing 6 tolimit the upward movement of the top section 308. The width of theflange 304 as viewed in Fig. 8 will govern the point of the pivotalmovement at which the pressure will be released. Preferably this is madewide enough so that release of the pressure will not occur until afterthe control mechanism is moved to the neutral position, so that therelease of the pressure will only occur upon an extreme movement whilemovement of the control mechanism to neutral position will beaccomplished by a more moderate movement of the wringer upon the swinglock latching pin as a pivot.

This instinctive arrangement has afurther advantage if there should bean excessive opposition to the movement of the rolls. For example, if ahand or arm should be caught in the wringer, without applying thelateral force necessary to move the wringer about the latch pin as apivot, this movement will be accomplished by the torque reaction ofwhichever bevel gear 42 or happens to be in driving engagement with thecrown gear 46. The torque reaction will tend to cause the bevel gear tomove laterally and in so doing will pivot the entire wringer bodilyabout the latch pin as a pivot to operate the instinctive stop andpressure release mechanism.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed,constitutes a preferred form and several other forms, it is to beunderstood that other forms might be adopted, as may come within thescope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A wringer having a wringer frame, rolls mounted in the frame, apressure means for the rolls, a driving mechanism for driving the rolls,a swing lock mechanism including a removable latching pin eccentric tosaid driving mechanism forming a pivot for said frame, and meansresponsive to a pivotal movement of said frame mounted in the frame, apressure means for the rolls, a driving mechanism for driving the rolls,a swing lock mechanism including a removable latching pin eccentric tosaid driving mechanism forming a pivot for said frame, and meansresponsive to a pivotal movement of said frame about said pin forreleasing the pressure from the rolls.

3. A wringer having a wringer frame, rolls mounted in the frame, apressure means for the rolls, a driving mechanism for driving the rolls,normal control means having forward, reverse and neutral positions forcontrolling said driving mechanism, means providing a floating supportfor said frame, and means responsive to a movement of said frame withrespect to its floating support for first moving said normal controlmeans to its neutral position for disconnecting the driving mechanismfrom the rolls and thereafter upon further movement of said frame forreleasing the pressurefrom the rolls.

4. A wringer having a wringer frame, rolls mounted in the frame, apressure means for the rolls, a wringer post for supporting said frame,gearing for driving said rolls, said post being provided with movabledrive shaft means for driving said gearing, movable bearing meanspermitting both relative rotation and relative lateral move ment betweensaid post and said frame, a swing lock mechanism including a removablelatching pin providing a pivot between said fram and. said post andpreventing relative rotation upon said movable bearing means butpermitting relaframe with said latching pin as a pivot, and meansoperated by the relative lateral movement between said post and saidframe for varying the operation of said wringer.

5'. A wringer having a wringer frame, rolls mounted in the frame, apressure means for the rolls, a Wringer post for supporting said frame,gearing for driving said rolls, said post being providedwith movabledrive shaft means for driving said gearing, movable bearing meanspermitting both relative rotation and relative lateral movement betweensaid post and said frame, a swing lock'mechanism including a removablelatching pin providing a pivot between said frame and said post andpreventing relative rotation upon said movable bearing means butpermitting relative lateral movement between said post and said framewith said latching pin as a pivot, means operated by the relativelateral movement between said post and said frame for varying theoperation of said wringer, and means responsive to the removal of saidlatching pin for rendering said wringer inoperative.

' DONALD K. FERRIS.

